The One Wiki to Rule Them All
Register
Advertisement
The One Wiki to Rule Them All
Red Book of Westmarch

The book's cover

The Red Book of Westmarch was a red-leather bound book written by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his household-heir Frodo Baggins, (with supplemental information later added by Samwise Gamgee) which chronicled both their adventures, as well as background information which the Bagginses had collected.

Bilbo Baggins started the book recounting his quest to Erebor, which he entitled There and Back Again. He later gave the book to Frodo at Rivendell after completing it. Frodo organized Bilbo's manuscript and used it to write down his own quest of the War of the Ring.[1]

Description and history

Inscribed within, it reads:

    My Diary. My Unexpected Journey. There and Back Again. And
What Happened After.

    Adventures of Five Hobbits. The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by
Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends.
What we did in the War of the Ring.

THE DOWNFALL
OF THE
LORD OF THE RINGS
AND THE
RETURN OF THE KING

(as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo and
Frodo of the Shire, supplemented by the accounts of their friends
and the learning of the Wise.)

Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo
in Rivendell.


Bilbo's translations of legends from the Elder Days were also added to it, as were various Hobbit poems and a significant amount of background information on the realms of Arnor, Gondor and Rohan, added to it by Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck.[2]

Screen shot 2011-11-05 at 11.20

A section of the book's contents

After Bilbo and Frodo left for Valinor, the Red Book passed into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, mayor of Hobbiton. The book was left in the possession of Sam Gamgee's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairns, and her descendants (the Fairbairns of the Towers or Wardens of Westmarch). Several copies, with various notes and later additions, were made and the original was kept in a red case (with a three-volume Elvish Translation and a fifth volume [genealogical tables and commentaries]). Copies were passed on to future generations, of which one, the "Thain's Book", is the most important.

The copy which was kept at Great Smials, however, was made in Gondor by the scribe Findegil in FO 171, and was said to have been requested by Peregrin Took's great-grandson.[2]

From the cover it was properly red colored; and had signature print on the top, shaped as a shine of light. It also had stitch patterns and beautiful marks around the edges. Bilbo Baggins' initials BB were imprinted on the cover in gold and it was very smooth, soft and silky to the touch. On the inside, there was a page of contents; writing each story by the four owners. There is a chance that The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (a book of poems) was written by Samwise Gamgee. However it is unknown what Elanor Gamgee wrote.

Behind the scenes

In the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's foreword claimed he had translated the Red Book from the original Westron into English, and it therefore must be supposed that copies of the book survived through several Ages.

The contents of the Red Book were probably as follows:

Translations

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Rooi Boek van Westemark
Arabic الكتاب الأحمر من الغرب الثغر
Armenian Արեւմտյան մարկա Կարմիր գիրքը
Azerbaijani Qərb sərhəddi Qırmızı Kitab
Belarusian Cyrillic Чырвоная кніга Захаду марка
Bengali ওয়েস্ট সীমান্তপ্রদেশ রেড বুক
Bosnian Zapada granica Crvena Knjiga
Bulgarian Cyrillic Червената книга на западния предел
Catalan Llibre vermell d'Occident marca
Chinese ? 西境紅皮書
Chinese (Mainland) 西界红皮书
Croatian Crvena knjiga Zapada Marka
Danish Vestmarch Røde bog
Dutch Rode Boek van de Westmark
Esperanto Ruĝa Libro de Okcidento markio
Estonian Lääne mark Punane raamat
Filipino Pulang aklat ng Kanluran hangganan
Finnish Länsikairan Punainen kirja
French Livre Rouge de la Marche de l'Ouest
Galician Libro Vermello do Oeste Marca
Georgian დასავლეთის მარკა წითელი წიგნი
German Das Rote Buch der Westmark
Haitian Creole Wouj Liv nan Lwès Fwontyè tè
Hebrew ספר האדום של שפילת-המערב
Hungarian A Nyugati határ Vörös Könyv
Icelandic Vesturmarke Rauður Bók
Indonesian Barat perbatasan Buku merah
Italian Libro Rosso dei Confini Occidentali
Japanese 西境の赤表紙本
Kazakh Батыстың шекара шекарасы Қызыл кітабы (Cyrillic) Batıstıñ şekara şekarası Qızıl kitabı (Latin)
Korean 서쪽의 국경 토지 빨간 책
Kurdish Sor Pirtûka Rojavayê mark (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Latvian Rietumu robeža sarkanā grāmata
Lithuanian Raudonoji knyga Vakaru Marka
Macedonian Cyrillic Црвена книга од Запад граница
Malaysian Barat Tanah sempadan Buku Merah ?
Mongolian Cyrillic Улаан Ном нь Өрнөдийн хил хязгаар
Nepalese पश्चिम सिमानाको रेड बुक
Norwegian Vestmarks Røde bok
Persian کتاب سرخ سرحد غربی
Polish Czerwona Ksiega Marchii Zachodniej
Portuguese Livro Vermelho da Marcha Oeste

Livro Vermelho das Terras Ocidentais

Russian Алая книга Западных пределов
Scottish Gaelic Leabhar Dearg an Lar chrìochan
Serbian Црвена књига Запада Марка (Cyrillic) Crvena knjiga Zapada Marka (Latin)
Sinhalese බටහිර දේශසීමා රතු පොත
Slovak Cervená kniha Západu March
Slovenian Rdeca knjiga Zahoda Marka
Spanish Libro Rojo de la Frontera del Oeste
Swedish Västmarkgrevskap Röd bok
Tajik Cyrillic Сурх Китоб аз Ғарб сарҳад
Tamil சிவப்பு நூல் மேற்கு கரை ?
Turkish Bati hudut Kirmizi Kitap
Ukrainian Cyrillic Червона книга Заходу mарка

See also

References

  1. The Lord of the Rings, Prologue, I: "Concerning Hobbits"
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Lord of the Rings, Prologue: "Note on the Shire Records"
Advertisement